HNoMS Gyller
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Gyller as a frigate in 1953. |
|
| Career (Norway) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Gyller |
| Builder: | The Royal Norwegian Navy's shipyard at Horten |
| Launched: | 7 July 1938[1] |
| Commissioned: | 1938 |
| Decommissioned: | 1959 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping in 1959 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sleipner class |
| Displacement: | 735 tons[2] |
| Length: | 74.30 metres (243.77 ft) |
| Beam: | 7.75 metres (25.43 ft) |
| Draft: | 4.15 metres (13.62 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Two De Laval geared turbines with two shafts and 12,500 hp |
| Speed: | 32 knots (59.26 km/h) |
| Range: | 3,500 nautical miles (6,482.00 km) at 15 knots (27.78 km/h) |
| Complement: | 75 (10 officers and 65 sailors)[3] |
| Armament: | As built: 3 × 10 cm main guns 1 × 40 mm Bofors L/60 anti-aircraft gun 2 × 12,7 mm Colt anti-aircraft machine guns 2 × 53.3 cm double barrelled trainable torpedo tubes 4 × depth charge throwers After German rearmament:[4] 1 × 10,5 cm main gun (since 1941) 1 × 40 mm Bofors L/60 2 × 2 cm AA guns (four since 1941) 2 × double 53.3 cm torpedo tubes 24 mines |
The Sleipner class destroyer HNoMS Gyller was commissioned into the Royal Norwegian Navy 7 July 1938 and remained in Norwegian service until the outbreak of the German invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940. She was constructed at Horten naval shipyard and had build number 125.[5] Gyller had four torpedo tubes, instead of the two which were standard in the rest of her class.
Contents |
[edit] Name
She was named after one of the twelve horses of the Æsir - the principal Norse gods.
[edit] Early RNoN service
[edit] Neutrality protection
Gyller spent the early part of World War II in the far north of Norway, protecting Norway's neutrality during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. During her deployment in North Norway she patrolled Norwegian territorial waters and repeatedly had to sink Soviet naval mines that had broken their moorings and drifted into Norwegian waters. During the Winter War all three of the Sleipner class destroyers commissioned at the time (Æger, Gyller and Sleipner) were deployed to different ports in Finnmark, with Gyller based in Kirkenes.[6]
When the Germans invaded Norway she formed part of the 3rd destroyer section in the Kristiansand Defence Sector of the 1st Naval District.[7]
[edit] Battle of Kristiansand
When the invasion came Gyller was docked at Kristiansand and got her first warning of the war in the form of gunfire from Odderøya Fort against the attacking German landing force number four. Gyller immediately opened up on attacking Luftwaffe bombers with her single Bofors 40 mm gun and two Colt 12,7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns and avoided several bombs dropped against her. After receiving an orientation on the situation from the fort commander Gyller steamed out to the harbour entrance and swung out her torpedo tubes to confront any intruder. However, at 1000 hrs an order not to fire at British and French forces came to the commander of Kristiansand. This order, combined with confusion of which flags were flown by the intruding warships, led to the German force being able to enter the harbour unopposed on their third attempt at 1030 hrs. At this time Gyller was docked at Tollbodbrygga wharf to refill her water tanks for the oncoming battle and was seized without a fight. Gyller was captured together with numerous other naval vessels in the Kristiansand area, including her sistership HNoMS Odin.[8] Before entering the Kriegsmarine she was partially rebuilt and rearmed.
[edit] German service as the Löwe
In Kriegsmarine service she was renamed the Löwe (German: "Lion") and first served as a convoy escort with the 7. T-flotilla in Skagerak and Kattegat, then as a training ship and finally as a torpedo recovery vessel in Gotenhafen for the rest of the war.
[edit] Escort for the Wilhelm Gustloff
Löwe was the single warship accompanying the evacuation ship Wilhelm Gustloff at the time it was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine S-13 30 January 1945.[9] Löwe managed to rescue 472 of the military and civilian passengers, with other German vessels rescuing another 780.[10]
[edit] Post-war RNoN service
After the end of World War II the Löwe/Gyller was found in Flensburg, Germany, May 1945 and returned the Royal Norwegian Navy.
After three more years in Norway as a destroyer Gyller was converted to a frigate in 1948.
Gyller was phased out and sold for scrapping in 1959
[edit] Notes
- ^ History of the Royal Norwegian Navy: The month of July (Norwegian)
- ^ Abelsen 1986: 30
- ^ Johannesen 1988: 89
- ^ German-navy.de: Löwe (English)
- ^ Horten municipal archive of local history: Build numbers at Horten yard (Norwegian)
- ^ Johannesen 1988: 90-98
- ^ Administrative Order of Battle for the Royal Norwegian Navy 8 April 1940 (English)
- ^ Berg 1997: 19
- ^ Wilhelmgustloff.com: Sinking (English)
- ^ Feldgrau.com: Wilhelm Gustloff (English)
[edit] Literature
- Abelsen, Frank: Norwegian naval ships 1939-1945, Sem & Stenersen AS, Oslo 1986 ISBN 82-7046-050-8 (English)&(Norwegian)
- Berg, Ole F.: I skjærgården og på havet - Marinens krig 8. april 1940 - 8. mai 1945, Marinens Krigsveteranforening, Oslo 1997 ISBN 82-993545-2-8 (Norwegian)
- Johannesen, Folke Hauger; Gå på eller gå under, Faktum Forlag AS, Oslo 1988 ISBN 82-540-0113-8 (Norwegian)
[edit] See also
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
